'£475,000 Coulson' row adds to woes

David Cameron faced new controversy last night as senior Tories questioned why he had made a former News of the World editor his top spin doctor on a reported salary of £475,000 a year.

The appointment of Andy Coulson, 39, as director of communications and planning has dismayed some MPs and party workers, who believe it undermines Mr Cameron's claims to be anti-spin.

Many are also staggered at his reported salary. With Steve Hilton, Mr Cameron's chief strategist, on £185,000 a year, the cost of the two men promoting Mr Cameron's new-look party appears to have reached £660,000 a year.

John Whittingdale, the Tory MP and chairman of the Commons select committee on culture, media and sport, said he respected Mr Coulson, who quit the Sunday tabloid after a Royal phone-tapping scandal in January, as a journalist. However he thought the appointment had come too soon after the editor had "been forced out".

Related Articles

Mr Coulson, who joins Mr Cameron next month, left the paper after Clive Goodman, the newspaper's royal correspondent, was jailed for four months for tapping Royal phones.

"I do find it a little surprising that this has come so soon after he was forced out," Mr Whittingdale said.

He added that if reports of his salary were correct, it was "a very great deal for someone who I can't believe was in that much demand on the job market so soon after he left the News of the World".

The Tory MP, who is also a member of the party's official board, said its members were not informed of Mr Coulson's appointment until after the deal had been done and the news was breaking in the press. Party sources insisted that the intention had been to inform the board but the news was leaked to the press, meaning an official statement had to be made.

A Tory party spokesman described the £475,000 figure as inaccurate. "It is substantially less," he said. However the Tories refused to specify the exact figure.

MPs had been urging Mr Cameron for months to appoint a spin doctor in the same mould as Alastair Campbell, the former tabloid journalist who helped steer Tony Blair into Downing Street in 1997. By Toby Helm, Chief Political Correspondent

DAVID Cameron faced new controversy last night as senior Tories questioned why he had appointed a former News of the World editor to be his top spin doctor on a reported a salary of £475,000 a year.

The big-money signing of 39-year-old Andy Coulson as Director of Communications and Planning has caused dismay among some MPs and party workers who believe it undermines Mr Cameron's claims to be anti-spin.

Many are also staggered at his reported salary. With Steve Hilton, Mr Cameron's chief strategist on £185,000 a year, the cost of the two men promoting David Cameron's new- look party appears to have reached £660,000 a year.

John Whittingdale, the Tory MP and chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport said he respected Mr Coulson, who quit the NoW after a Royal phone tapping scandal in January, as a journalist.

However he made clear he thought the appointment had come too soon after he had "been forced out" of the Sunday tabloid paper.

Mr Coulson, who joins Mr Cameron next month, left the paper after the NoW's Royal Correspondent Clive Goodman was jailed for four months for tapping Royal phones.

"I do find it a little surprising that this has come so soon after he was forced out," Mr Whittingdale said.

He added that if reports of his salary were correct, it was "a very great deal for someone who I can't believe was in that much demand on the job market so soon after he left the News of the World."

The Tory MP, who is also a member of the party's official board, said board members were not informed of Mr Coulson's appointment until after the deal had been done and the news was leaking to the press.

Party sources insisted that the intention had been to inform the board. But the news leaked early to the press, meaning an official statement had to be made.

A Tory party spokesman described the £475,000 figure as inaccurate. "It is substantially less," he said. However the Tories refused to specify the exact figure.

Mr Cameron has faced criticism all week in the row over grammar schools. Many MPs have been urging him for months to appoint a heavy hitting spin doctor in the same mould as former tabloid journalist Alastair Campbell, who helped steer Tony Blair into Downing Street in 1997 and was his right hand man for seven years in government.

However, unlike Mr Campbell, who worked as a political journalist in the House of Commons - he was very close to Neil Kinnock, the former Labour leader - Mr Coulson is not known for his political experience.

One Tory MP said: "He will be judged on whether he beats Labour at the next election. If he does that the money will seem irrelevant."